Marquette Basketball: Bleeding Blue and Gold

By Aubrey Murtha — That delightful time of year is quickly approaching, my friends.

It’s the time when amped up Fanatics across the country sport their blue and gold on game days, when Marquette alums dress their babies in miniature cheerleader uniforms and commute back to their old stopping grounds for the festivities, when freshmen get excited to see anyone that exceeds six foot on campus in hopes that they may be engaging in a real life encounter with an MU basketball player.

That’s right, Marquette basketball fans. It’s game time.

Sports analysis is not exactly my forte, that’s for sure. I will leave that job to the Peter Fiorentino’s and Grant Becker’s of the Marquette student body—those guys are going to be ESPN legends someday, I swear it. However, I do know a thing or two about school spirit, and I think it is safe to assert that Marquette is not lacking in that area.

I don’t know what it is that keeps Marquette basketball fans so dedicated to their team, but I could venture a few educated guesses.

First, I think basketball may hold a special place in our hearts since we are football deficient. Instead of forcing ourselves to live vicariously through our friends at large state schools with successful football programs, we save up all of our fanatical energy for basketball season.

Second, what would the Wisconsin colligate sports scene be without a heated basketball rivalry between the Badgers and the Golden Eagles, two of my very favorite woodland creatures (although one is clearly more majestic than the other). We’ve got to be a powerful fan base for Marquette when our boys go up against schools with student bodies that drastically outnumber ours. Marquette fans must stand their ground and support their crew. And we do—every single game day.

Finally, Marquette basketball builds community, unifying current MU scholars with their learned faculty, connecting perspective Golden Eagles to successful Marquette alumni, bonding our beloved Jesuits to the very men that don our Marquette name on their jerseys and take to the court every game day. Sometimes it takes something as seemingly arbitrary as the game of basketball to establish an unbreakable tie between individuals from all walks of life, with varying connections to and affiliations with our university.

I would argue that MU basketball teaches us to win honorably and lose graciously, to adjust to transition and succeed when the deck seems to be stacked against us, to learn from defeat and flourish in the wake of failure. For these life lessons, I thank thee, Marquette basketball program, on behalf of your dedicated fan base.